They are rallying for higher pay and the right to unionize without retaliation.

Median pay for a fast food worker around the country is $9 per hour. They want $15 an hour.

Some workers argue that minimum wage just doesn't provide enough money to put food on their tables.

"Workers are taking these jobs because they are desperate in an economy that is still not creating enough work for people who want to go to work and still not creating enough middle-class jobs or jobs that have a ladder to the middle class," said Dorian Warren, of Columbia University.

The National Restaurant Association said it has created jobs in this difficult economy and any dramatic increase in wages would be a job killer.

It adds that restaurants would have to increase prices for meals, passing the cost on to customers.

President Barack Obama called on Congress on Wednesday to raise the federal minimum wage, calling the income gap a "defining challenge of our time."